‘You are! And don’t forget it,’ her mother said, before the sound of a car horn outside alerted them both to the arrival of Auntie Mags in the taxi. Jo shooed her mum out of the door.

Her Auntie Mags rolled the car window down and waved enthusiastically at Jo. Mags never seemed to drain of energy. She was in her mid-sixties but had a better social life than Jo, who was only twenty-nine. She also dressed more like a twenty-nine-year-old than Jo did, and the purple streak in her blonde hair screamed that she was not at all intending on adopting the cardigan and slippers look any time soon. Jo loved her madly for it.

‘How’s it going, Jo? Are you well?’ Mags shouted.

‘I am. Ready for a quiet night in.’ Jo smiled back as her mother got in the taxi. ‘You two can live the wild life for me tonight instead.’

‘That’s the plan!’ Mags called and, with a flamboyant air kiss, she and Jo’s mum were gone.

Only once the house was quiet did Jo realise how much she was looking forward to her quiet night in with Clara. The weekend was set to be crazy busy at The Ivy Inn and her Thursday nights off gave her the best opportunity to relax before the madness. That’s not to mention it was just lovely to cuddle up in her double bed and have Clara snuggle with her. How she’d manage when her dad returned home and she moved back to the flat she shared with Erin would remain to be seen. Over the last two months, she had adapted beautifully to life back in her childhood home and to spending almost all of her free time at the beck and call of her beautiful, slightly crazy sister.

Clara had been a member of the Campbell family on and off for the past five-and-a-half years. She was just six months old when she first came to stay with them for a few days – Maureen and Paul being among the most beloved and experienced of foster carers on the books.

For three years, she flitted in and out of their lives, sometimes just for a night or two. Sometimes for a few weeks at a time. When she arrived full-time two years ago, when it was clear she would not be returning to her birth family, Maureen Campbell was determined she would have no more upset in her life. Instead of passing her on to another new family to get to know, Maureen had persuaded her husband – not that he needed too much persuasion – to make Clara a permanent fixture in their home. Within the year, Clara’s adoption had been finalised.